TikTok emerging as big competitor for Facebook

TikTok seems to have a message for Facebook: we’re coming for you.

The popular video-sharing app has opened a Silicon Valley office in Mountain View only a few minutes away from Facebook’s Palo Alto headquarters, reports CNBC’s Salvador Rodriguez. The office space was previously occupied by Facebook’s messaging app, Whatsapp.

According to CNBC, the company has also hired more than two dozen former Facebook employees since 2018. One person at TikTok told CNBC that the company offers salaries up to 20% higher than Facebook’s to draw experienced employees from its competitors. Reportedly, TikTok has also poached employees from companies including Apple, Google and Hulu to name a few.

However, Facebook still has not listed TikTok as an official competitor on its financial documents. But, the tech giant is wary of the growing threat from the video-sharing app.

Facebook even launched Lasso; a video app almost identical to TikTok. However, Lasso was not as popular; according to Sensor Tower, Lasso has been downloaded 420,000 outside of China, compared to TikTok’s more than 500 million users.

While the number of TikTok’s daily users are nowhere near Facebook’s, the app’s parent company ByteDance is growing quickly. ByteDance has been described as “China’s Facebook,” and it is the highest valued private company in the world at $75 billion.

In leaked audio published by The Verge, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the company’s plans to compete with TikTok, “So yeah. I mean, TikTok is doing well…we’re trying to first see if we can get it to work in countries where TikTok is not already big before we go and compete with TikTok in countries where they are big.”